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KENNESAW, Ga. – The Kennesaw State women's basketball team dropped its first home game of the season as the Owls second half comeback fell short to rival Mercer, 54-44, on Tuesday night (Jan. 6) at the KSU Convocation Center.
 
"We did not get to the free throw line and got outrebounded by 13 or 14," said head coach Nitra Perry. "When I look at the game, I am ticked because we lost, but the positive in it is you are in the hunt. You are down three with two minutes left and you have not shot free throws and you are getting outrebounded, so I just felt like we were a couple plays away. The fundamentals, blocking out and stuff like that, those things that can get fixed, so going into conference play I still feel pretty good."
 
Junior Jasmine McAllister was one rebound off of a double-double to lead the Owls (11-4) with 14 points on 7-of-12 shooting and nine rebounds, while redshirt-freshman Kelly Dulkoski poured in a career-high 11 points, including going 3-of-6 from beyond the arc.
 
After the Bears (8-8) scored the game's first four points, the Owls responded to cut the margin to 9-8 with 16 minutes left in the first half. Mercer then used an 8-0 lead to take a 17-8 lead, before back-to-back three-pointers from Dulkoski and junior Karly Frye pulled the Owls within 19-14 with 10 minutes to go in the half.
 
Over the next five minutes, the Bears pushed ahead by its largest advantage of the game at 25-14 with a 6-0 mini run, before a driving layup from senior Kristina Wells started an 8-2 Owl run to close the half and send KSU into the break trailing 27-22.
 
Out of intermission, the Bears took a 35-28 lead with 13 minutes to go in regulation, but a Dulkoski three closed the gap to three points. Mercer again pushed its advantage to six points following a layup, before freshman Neffie Lockley drained her first career three-pointer from the corner to get the Owls within 37-34.
 
A free-throw from senior Valescia Dixon, followed by back-to-back baskets from McAllister brought KSU within 40-39 with 6:41 remaining on the clock.
 
Both teams traded baskets over the next three minutes, before a Briana Williams three-pointer put the Bears up 47-41 with 3:09 remaining. Dulkoski again responded with her third trey of the game put the Owls within three, but another Williams three, followed by free throws down the stretch sealed the 54-44 setback to the Bears.
The Owls were outrebounded on the glass, 47-33, with Mercer grabbing 25 offensive rebounds which the Bears turned into 17 second chance points.
 
As a team, KSU shot 35.8 percent on 19-of-53 shooting. Lockley continued her strong play off the bench with seven points and six rebounds, while Wells registered seven boards, five assists, two blocks and two steals in the loss.
 
Precious Bridges led the Bears with 17 points, while Williams totaled 16 points and Teanna Robinson pulled down 13 rebounds.
 
The Owls will next open up the Atlantic Sun Conference slate with a trip to Spartanburg, S.C., to take on USC Upstate in the Hodge Center on Saturday, Jan. 10 at 4:30 p.m. ET.
 
To keep up with the latest Kennesaw State women's basketball news follow the team on Twitter @KSUOwlNation and @KSUOwlsWBB or by liking Kennesaw State University on Facebook.